WEST LAFAYETTE — The Central Catholic football team did a lot of things right against a very good team Friday night. However, the Knights did one thing very wrong.

They turned the ball over.

Central Catholic committed four turnovers against West Lafayette and paid for it three times, allowing the Class 3A No. 2 Red Devils to slip away with a 34-0 win at a rain-soaked Gordon Straley Field.

Kyle Adams threw for three touchdowns and ran for another to lead West Lafayette (4-0), which plays at Rensselaer next week.

"Our offense spotted them 14 points and with a team like (West Lafayette), that's tough to battle back from," said first-year Central Catholic coach Brian Nay, whose team plays at Tipton next week.

"I thought we grew tonight and we're going to keep battling. But if we want to make noise in the 1A playoffs, we have to eliminate those Day 1 mistakes."

Turning point

Locked in a scoreless tie and playing in conditions that made scoring difficult, Central Catholic (1-3) committed game-changing turnovers on consecutive possessions late in the first quarter.

The first turnover, an interception by West Side linebacker Lamont Johnson deep in Knights territory, led to an 11-yard touchdown pass from Adams to Harrison Truitt with 3:05 left in the first.

Tavion Woodard scoops a Knight fumble and scores in the West Lafayette vs. Central Catholic game on a very wet and muddy Gordon Starlet Field. Red Devils defeated the Knights 34-0.(Photo: Chad Krockover/For the Journal & Courier)

The Red Devils then went up 14-0 on Central Catholic's very next offensive snap. Seeing the ball loose on the ground after a bungled hand-off attempt at the Knights 40, Tavion Woodard scooped it up and ran almost untouched into the end zone.

"A lot of things were going through my mind. Should I just jump on it or should I scoop and score? It worked out perfectly," Woodard said. "Those couple of plays were big plays. We needed those plays to get going."

West Lafayette also parlayed a turnover into a quick touchdown during the third quarter, intercepting a pass and scoring on the very next play to go up 27-0. The Red Devils only managed one sustained scoring drive all night.

CLOSE

The Red Devils scored a home win over the Knights.
Clayton Duffy, for the Journal & Courier

"Our offense did not play well but our defense did," said West Lafayette coach Shane Fry, whose team beat Hamilton Heights 76-0 last weekend.

"Once it rains all day, all your plans go out the window. Our guys had to make the adjustments as best they could. There's little room for error in a game like this."

What's it mean?

The Red Devils continue their quest for an undefeated regular season.

West Lafayette has gone an impressive 57-12 since Fry took over in 2013. However, thanks in part to a pair of losses to Central Catholic, the Red Devils have never enjoyed an undefeated regular season during his tenure.

West Lafayette's last undefeated regular season came in 2009, when it finished 15-0 and won the Class 2A state title.